134 PEACTICAL BOTANY 



by producing ordinary showy flowers and also inconspicu- 

 ous closed or cleistogamous flowers. The latter are, in violets, 

 borne on flower stalks close to the ground (Fig. 124), and 



FIG. 124. A violet, with cleistogamous flowers 



The objects which look like flower buds are cleistogamous flowers in various 



stages of development. The pods are the fruit of similar flowers and contain 



great numbers of seeds. The plant is represented as it appears in late July or 



earJy August, after the ordinary flowers have disappeared 



